Illini have come a long way since hitting rock bottom’ 2 years ago

Illinois football coach Ron Zook's career and his team hit bottom two seasons ago on a Saturday night game on national TV.

The Illini trailed by 53 points at halftime in a 63-10 loss to No. 12 Penn State, a game that showed just how far Illinois needed to travel just to gain respectability.

"I remember being on the (headset) with the coaching staff,'' Zook said. "I said, 'Somebody help me. I've never been here before. What do you say?'

"I walked into the locker room and said, 'Fellas, this is as bad as it's ever going to get, as bad as the program is ever going to be. From here, we start to go forward.' Sometimes you hit rock bottom before coming up.''

Nearly two years later, Illinois (3-1 overall, 1-0 in the Big Ten Conference) seeks a signature win and one of those turn-the-corner victories against No. 21 Penn State (3-1, 0-1) in the Big Ten Conference home opener at Memorial Stadium Saturday (11 a.m., Big Ten Network).

The Illini are three-point underdogs. Even considering the possibility of a win showed the Illini came a long way from that embarrassing loss when Penn State coach Joe Paterno essentially killed the clock in the second half.

"You wish you weren't a part of one of those games,'' Illini linebacker Brit Miller said. "That was rock bottom. We lived it. Our fans experienced it that night. It was hard to look your parents in the eye. Now, we're getting a little bit of success. We think we can play with these guys.''

By last season, Illinois ended a nine-game conference losing streak and finished with a string of close losses, including a 26-12 defeat at Penn State when the Illini had 358 total yards to Penn State's 184.

"We were surprised last year,'' Penn State linebacker Dan Connor said. "We didn't have a great mindset going into the game. They smacked us in the mouth.''

Even though Illinois ended a 13-game losing streak in conference openers last week at Indiana, the Illini still must beat a perennial power to earn respect, said freshman receiver Arrelious Benn.

"It would open a lot more eyes and get a lot more respect,'' Benn said. "It's our second Big Ten game, and we need to prove a point that Indiana wasn't a fluke and we didn't get lucky. We're not going to settle for morale victories. We need to come out and get our respect like I know we should.''

Injury Report

Illinois freshman running back Troy Pollard suffered damage to the anterior cruciate ligament on his right knee in the closing minutes of Saturday's game at Indiana and is expected to undergo season-ending knee surgery. Since Pollard didn't play in the season opener and didn't take a snap until the closing minutes against Western Illinois, he's likely eligible for a medical redshirt, Zook said.

Running back Daniel Dufrene and left tackle Xavier Fulton are expected to practice this week and play against Penn State after recovering from ankle sprains.

Tickets

The game with Penn State is listed as a sellout. Dates with No. 9 Wisconsin on Oct. 6 and Michigan on Oct. 20 are also sellouts. The university already sold close to 50,000 tickets for the homecoming game against Ball State.

By selling the lowest five rows of Memorial Stadium, the capacity rose to 58,578 during the renovations. Nearly 20,000 tickets remain for the final home game against Northwestern on Nov. 17.

Etc.

Senior defensive tackle Chris Norwell would set a school record for most starts by a defensive lineman. He enters with 37. … Senior placekicker Jason Reda needs 11 points to pass Mike Bass for fourth all-time in Illinois scoring. Reda has 202 points, 61 shy of passing Chris White for the school career scoring record.

John Supinie can be reached at Johnsupinie@aol.com. For more Illini coverage, see Illini Talk blog at www.sj-r.com and www.pjstar.com.